Aeroplane-motor support.



N. w. DALTON..-

AEROPLANE MOTOR SUPPORT APPLICATION FILED APR. $6. 1911,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

NELSON W. DALTON.

N; W. DALTON. AEROPLANE MOTOR SUPPORT.

APPLICATION FILED APR- l6, WIT.

Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 v NEL5ONW.DALT'ON.

UNITED STATES-PATENT OFFICE.

' NELSON W. DALTON, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GURTISS AEROPLANE AND MOTOR CORPORATION, A CORPORATION OF YORK.

AEROPLANE-MOTOR surron'r.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Application filed April 16, 1917. Serial No. 162,529.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NELSON W. DAIJION, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Aeroplane-Motor Supports, fication.

My invention relates to areoplanes and more particularlyto improvements in engine supports of the between surface or exterior type. The invention is characterized principally by the support ofthe engine bed beams at their forward ends by a pyramidal structure of struts having its apex situated on a beam of a supporting plane. The advantage of this arrangement is that it produces the greatest strength of support beneath the greatest mass -ofthe motor.

Other features of the invention are the interbracing of the motors of a'twin-motor craft and the rear end construction and formation of the engine bed beams.

Of the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a tractor machine equipped with twin motors and with the motor supports, etc., of this invention; Fig. 2 is a front end elevation of the machine illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view (the upper supporting plane having been removed), and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view detailing the motor support and engine bed formation.

Although the invention is designed for use in connection with a twin motored tractor machine, its use in connection with a pusher machine is entirely practical.

In the embodiment of the invention selected for illustration, 10 designates the fuselage, 1111 the twin motors, 12 the landing gear and 13-44 the upper and lower supporting surfaces respectively. The motor or power units, it will be noted, are symmetrically disposed at opposite sides of the fore and aft axis of the craft, intermediate the surfaces 13 and'14, preferably in the vertical planes of the terminals of the engine section panels.

Braces 15, V-arranged horizontally, extend out right and left from the fuselage 10, the apices of the respective braces lying of which the following is a speciadjacent. These braces interconnect the fuselage and motors, the terminals of the braces constituting each V-brace engaging Patented Nov. 6, 1917.-

the inner beams of the engine beds at points in the vicinity of side struts of the in described.

The wing beams of the lower'supporting plane are designated respectively 16 and 17, the corresponding beams. of the superposed surfaces being unalined vertically by reason of the stagger given said planes. This arrangement or stagger necessitates a forward disposition of the motors 11. Unlike the engine bed beams ordinarily used, the engine bed beams 18 here shown do not extend parallel throughout. Kt their rear ends the beams 18 converge so as to terminally engage the rear wing post 19 at a point intermediate its ends. A lap joint fitting 20, with the wingpost 19 as its foundation, is utilized as the fastening means. The rearward convergenceof the beams 18 decreases the fastenings for the inpyramidal structures herethe head resistance. by reason of the betterstreamline form of engine beds obtained.

The engine bed beams extend forwardly beyond the vertical plane of edge of the foremost wing. In this way ample clearance isprovided between the plane of revolution of the propellers and the plane of the foremost wing. As a support for the beams 18 at theirforward ends the pyramidal structures 21 are provided.

the pyramids are situated preferably directly beneath the centers of mass of the respective motors. Greater strength and an equal distribution of the weight mass upon the several struts is in this way obtained without dissymmetrically arranging the pyramid struts or angularly extending the pyramidal structures when considered as an entirety. The. motors 11, the pyramidal structures '21 and'the center struts 22 together constitute separate wing post frames in which the center strut of each wing post frame is founded upon the motor casing the leading beams 18 correspondingly forwardly extended, obviously some additional supporting means, such as the pyramidal structures must be provided. These structures, it will be noted, lie symmetrically beneath the centers of mass of the motors and being founded on the forward wing beams of the lower wings, cause said wing beams to sustain the principal weight masses of. the machine. The motors, under no circumstances, are to be extended forwardly beyond the vertical plane of the forward wing beams. To do this would necessitate that the center struts 22 continue beyond the plane of the top of the motor casing for foundation upon cross struts interconnecting the engine bed beams.

No limitation is intended to be made herein to the arrangement of the motor units with respect to the fuselage or to the number of motor units or number of fuselages provided. What is intended to be covered is the mounting of a power unit intermediate the supporting surfaces and in the plane of the forward wing beams thereof whereby it may be supported as disclosed through the medium of a pyramidal support having its apex founded upon one of the wing beams of.-the lower supporting plane.

What is claimed is: c

1. In an aeroplane, a fuselage, supporting surfaces arranged to extend intermediately across the fuselage, wing beams founding the supporting surfaces, a power unit mounted intermediate the supporting surfaces in the vertical plane of the forward wing beams, and a pyramidal support for the motor unit having, its apex founded upon one of the wing beams of the lower supporting surfaces.

2. In an aeroplane, a fuselage, supporting surfaces arranged to extend intermediately across the fuselage, wing beams founding the supporting surfaces, a motor unit arranged to longitudinally intersect the vertinaeaoaa across the fuselage, wing beams founding the supporting surfaces, a motor unit mounted intermediate the supporting surfaces, a pyramidal support for the motor unit having its apex founded upon one of the wing beams of the lower supporting surfaces, and means erected upon said motor unit to vertically continue said support, to

the corresponding wing beam of the upper supporting surface.

l. In an aeroplane, afuselage, surfaces arranged to extend intermediately across the fuselage, wing beams founding the supporting surfaces, a motor unit arranged to longitudinally intersect the vertical plane of the corresponding wing beams of said surfaces, and a pyramidal support for the motor unit comprising a plurality of upwardly diverging struts, said pyramidal support having its apex founded upon one of the wing beams of the lower supporting surface approximately below the center ofmotor mass.

5. In an aeroplane, a fuselage, supporting surfaces arranged to extend intermediately across the fuselage, power units arranged symmetrically at opposite sides of the fuselage, and substantially horizontally extendling V-braces interconnecting the motor units and said fuselage.

6. In an aeroplane, a fuselage, supporting surfaces arranged to extend intermediately across the fuselage, wing posts interconnect- Eng said surfaces, engine bed beams arranged intermediate said surfaces, the beams at one end converging for securement to said wing posts intermediate its ends, and a lap joint fitting constituting said securing means.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

NELSON W. DALTON.

supporting 

